Top 4 Public Policy Violations Employers Should Avoid

Many employers today think that they can do
everything they want with their employees, especially in states that allow
at-will employments. One of the many authorities that these employers claim is
the power to terminate their employees at any given time within the duration of
an at-will employment. This may be possible in cases where the employer has
faithfully followed the conditions of the contract.

However, under federal law, employers are not
allowed to terminate any employee for failure of performing a given work which
is considered a violation of public policy. Following are some public policy
violations that prohibit employers from terminating their workers:

Commanding an
employee to take a morally wrong action â If the employee gets fired and
he files a complaint against the employer, the latter would possibly face
two issues â wrongfully terminating the employee, and getting involved in
an illegal activity.

Firing a worker
who has reported an illegal activity of the company â When a company
worker reports an illegal activity within the company to the authorities,
he would be placed in a protected state. This means the employer cannot do
anything against the employee or his employment.

Terminating an
employee because of filing family and medical leaves for the aid of his
family â Employees are entitled to file family leaves with their employers
in case of child birth, or a sick family member needs money for operation.

Retaliating
against employees who have filed a complaint against them â If an employee
reports any kind of employment violation against the employer such as
harassment, discrimination, or abuse, the employer is prohibited from
taking any retaliatory actions against the employee, even if the initial
complaint was unsupported.

If you are an employer and you want to fire
an at-will employee, make sure that your action would be based on legal
factors. If your reasons for terminating an employee are illegal, he may file a
wrongful termination lawsuit against you. It is difficult to defend such a case
because your discharge letter would be used as evidence against you.

If you want to build a law-abiding company
with a skilled and effective workforce, avoid committing public policy
violations against your employees. By maintaining a transparent and mutual
relationship between you and your employees, your company would eventually grow
into an established business with a reliable workforce.